Member of Restart Management Board in Mostar Software City Panel Discussion

Today a Member of Restart Management Board, Adnan Berberović, has participated in a panel discussion about Business development in IT sector, held as part of the opening program of the Mostar City Software, the association of local companies in information and communication technology (ICT) sector.

The ceremony was attended by the ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway Anne Vibeke Lilloe, US AmbassadorMaureen Cormack, and the representatives of local and foreign companies, global IT companies in BiH, representatives of government institutions, higher education, chambers of commerce and non-governmental organizations.

Mostar Software City will increase the attractiveness of Mostar as ICT destination and, to create new opportunities for employment, growth and benefit the local community, Local IT companies with over 300 employees have recognized their common goals and have decided to establish a joint association. These are companies from Mostar: AvaCom, Cox4, Hera, IT department, Inter TP, MSS, MoreScreens and Spark.

The main goal of MSC is internationalization and support the export of local products and services to the global market through networking, research and dissemination. As a kind of export accelerator, its aim is to develop and improve products and services of local companies that will establish a joint performance by direct contact with clients in the global market.

The Ceremony was opened by The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway Anne Vibeke Lilloe, who has reminded that Norway supports Bosnia and Herzegovina since the war and that is contributing to help BiH to build democracy since 2000.

“Embassy of Norway, together with the EU, have organized three large job fair in Zenica, Banja Luka and Mostar last year. Approximately 4,000 people have found jobs directly at these fairs. The intention of MSC is to create new opportunities and to promote employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as building local environment for the international ICT businesses. Establishment of MSC increases the attractiveness of Mostar as ICT cradle or destination, both for customers and for new employees who come from other parts of the country. It will be a platform to combine resources to attract foreign customers and increase the level of competitiveness of local companies. ”

The US Ambassador Maureen Cormack pronounced some words of support, this was her second visit of INTERA.

“I believe that this community is of utmost importance for the future of BiH. In order to develop a strong private sector, you have to unlock the potential of entrepreneurs. So, those who want to do something need new skills, have to associate and form their own community. Therefore, we are delighted to have the opportunity to support this project. ”

A special attention to MSC’s young member, which is aimed to provide an opportunity to get practical work experience at first and then employment, as well as supporting and mentoring to launch their own businesses. MSC can be a significant partner for local companies, public institutions and authorities in terms of digitalization of work processes at all levels of government.

Amir Zukic, Minister of the Federal Ministry of Development, Business and Trade commended the Association of Entrepreneurs of the same industry, especially in the software industry.

“This is a good example of how BiH should unite all their resources. I can only assure you that the Federal Ministry within its means to support these and similar projects. I hope that this platform will be a provocation to launch new ideas. ”

Mostar is the center where happens many positive things and the Mayor of Mostar, Ljubo Beslic. confirmed that. “I am honored to welcome young people with ideas and knowledge. I expect these ideas to be more and more. Our city is a city of bridges that connects people, ideas and traditions. I want to pass these bridges in both directions, smoothly, so that our relationships become more stronger. ”

INTERA’s Executive Director Mladen Kostic thanked the Embassy of Norway, the US and Italy for their support and congratulated the founders of this brave, entrepreneurial act.

The idea of MSC came from Intera, but also from Marin Jozic, owner of the company Cox 4 and President of Mostar Software City.

“This initiative arose from the need to solve systematically the existing problems in the IT industry that are obvious. This refers to human resources in particular, where is necessary to work with young people that come from college because they are unprepared. On the other hand, the purpose of MSC is to increase and share know how and experiences. The third thing is the start-up scene, which is very important because the current number of companies is not sufficient to be performed on the external market. MSC through networking with investors and mentors can contribute to the development of new companies.”

Then he opened a panel discussion about the business development prespectives in the IT sector in which discussed Adnan Berberović (Seeba) Sweden, Milan Solaja (ICT cluster) Vojvodina, Damir Popovic (CISEx Association) Croatia and Predrag Mandlbaum (MSC).